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55-531: The line was opened on April 28, 1939 by the Japanese National Railways (JNR) as the Amagi Line, in order to supply military equipment to Tachiarai Airfield . In 1981, the line was named a specified local line and considered for closure. Freight services ceased in 1984. On April 5, 1985, it was agreed that the line would be transferred to a newly created third sector railway company . Amagi Railway

110-499: A value added tax to reduce the burden of direct taxes in a policy designed to cut the budget deficit. Nakasone was replaced by Noboru Takeshita in 1987, and was implicated, along with other LDP lawmakers, in the Recruit scandal that broke the following year. Although he remained in the Diet for another decade and a half, his influence gradually waned. In 2003, despite a fight, Nakasone

165-616: A "quiet, easy-going child" nicknamed "Yat-chan". He attended a local primary school in Takasaki and was a poor student until the fourth grade, after which he excelled and was at the top of his class. He entered Shizuoka Higher School in 1935, where he excelled in history and literature, and learned to speak fluent French . In the autumn of 1938, Nakasone entered the Faculty of Law of the Imperial University of Tokyo . During World War II , he

220-583: A break-away group from Doro. The term Kokuyū Tetsudō "state-owned railway" originally referred to a network of railway lines operated by 17 private companies that were nationalized following the Railway Nationalization Act of 1906 and placed under the control of the Railway Institute. Later, the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications took over control of

275-511: A decade later in the fight for the premiership. In 1982, Nakasone became prime minister. Along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Shintaro Abe , Nakasone improved Japanese relations with the USSR and the People's Republic of China . Nakasone was best known for his close relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan , popularly called the "Ron-Yasu" friendship. Nakasone sought a more equal relationship with

330-475: A difficult problem for JNR. Since public workers were prohibited to strike , they carried out "work-to-rule protests" that caused trains to be delayed. On March 13, 1973, train delays caused by such protests resulted in a riot of angered passengers at Ageo Station in Saitama Prefecture. From November 26, 1975, to December 3, 1975, major labor unions of JNR conducted an eight-day-long illegal "strike for

385-557: A member of the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party . "As a freshman lawmaker in 1951, he delivered a 28-page letter to General MacArthur criticising the occupation, a brazen move. The General angrily threw the letter in [the] bin, Yasuhiro was later told. This stand established [Yasuhiro Nakasone's] credentials as a right-wing politician." He gained brief notoriety in 1952 for blaming Emperor Hirohito for Japan's defeat in

440-518: A national opening on par with the wrenching social and political changes that followed defeat in the [world] war [and] praised the appearance of a strong second political party as a step toward true democracy". "Being knocked out of power is a good chance to study in the cram school of public opinion", he was quoted as saying of the LDP. He "faulted Mr. Hatoyama for giving Washington the impression that [Hatoyama] valued ties with China more than he did those with

495-442: A notion. A nation is still a nation whether it wins or loses a war". Nakasone also sought educational reform, setting up a commission. Its report recommended that "a spirit of patriotism" should be inculcated in children, along with respect for elders and authority. This was not fully implemented and came under attack from the teachers' trade union . The commission also recommended that the national anthem should be taught and that

550-518: A public corporation, JNR experienced a series of mysterious incidents as follows. Although the police at that time treated them as terrorism by the communists , doubts have been raised as to the validity of this conclusion. In later years, JNR was a target of radical leftists . On October 21, 1968, groups of extremist students celebrating "International Antiwar Day" occupied and vandalized Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. They criticized JNR's collaboration in

605-469: A series of interviews to address the direction of prime minister Yukio Hatoyama 's government. In a profile at that time, he saw Hatoyama's "inexperienced left-leaning" government as "challenging Japan's postwar political order and its close relationship with the United States". As well, the LDP was "crumbling into disarray" in the wake of Hatoyama's victory. In the profile, Nakasone described the moment "as

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660-741: A series of talks between the Philippines and Japan during a special state visit from 1986 to 1987, to provide good economic and trade relations. In economic affairs, Nakasone's most notable policy was his privatisation initiative, which led to the breakup of Japan National Railways into the modern Japan Railways Group (JR) . This led to 80,000 redundancies, unheard of in Japan until that point. He also privatized Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation to create Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) . The privatization of

715-464: A solution. He managed to procure four Indonesian women, and a Navy report praised him for having “mitigated the mood of his troops". His decision to provide comfort women to his troops was replicated by thousands of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy officers across the Indo-Pacific both before and during World War II, as a matter of policy. From Nauru to Vietnam, from Burma to Timor, women were treated as

770-715: A special Japanese compassion, unlike the desert culture of the Middle East that produced the Judeo-Christian "An eye for an eye , a tooth for a tooth". In a speech in 1986, Nakasone said it was Japan's international mission to spread the monsoon culture abroad. On 15 August 1985, the fortieth anniversary of Japan's surrender, Nakasone and his Cabinet visited the Yasukuni Shrine , where Japan's war casualties - including convicted war criminals - were buried, in full mourning dress . This had great symbolic significance as he visited

825-464: A watershed in Japan's post-war economic policy. Nakasone also became known for having a nationalist attitude and for wanting to stimulate ethnic pride amongst the Japanese. He was an adherent to the nihonjinron theory that claims Japan is incomparably different from the rest of the world. Influenced by Japanese philosopher Tetsuro Watsuji , Nakasone believed that Japan's "monsoon culture" inspired

880-610: A well-publicised shopping trip, he bought an American tennis racket, an Italian tie and a French shirt. He said: "Japan is like a mah-jong player who always wins. Sooner or later the other players will decide that they do not want to play with him". The Japanese public were skeptical but the Commission created a good impression abroad, especially in America, where the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs W. Allen Wallis called it

935-629: The Edo period , and claimed direct descent from the Minamoto clan through the famous Minamoto no Yoshimitsu and through his son Minamoto no Yoshikiyo (d. 1149). According to family records, Tsunayoshi (k. 1417), a vassal of the Takeda clan and a tenth-generation descendant of Yoshikiyo, took the name of Nakasone Juro and was killed at the Battle of Sagamigawa. In about 1590, the samurai Nakasone Sōemon Mitsunaga settled in

990-589: The Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency , the successor body to the JNR Settlement Corporation. The agency said it would pay 20 billion yen, approximately 22 million yen per worker, to 904 plaintiffs. However, as the workers were not reinstated, it was not a full settlement. Between 1950 and 1965, JNR indirectly owned a professional baseball team named Kokutetsu Swallows ( 国鉄スワローズ , Kokutetsu Suwarōzu ) . Swallow

1045-626: The Rising Sun Flag should also be raised during entrance and graduation ceremonies. History textbooks were also reformed. In 1986, Nakasone dismissed his Education Minister, Masayuki Fujio , after he justified Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910 . Nakasone aroused controversy in September 1986 when he claimed that Americans were, on average, less intelligent than Japanese because "the US has many immigrants, Puerto Ricans , Mexicans , and Blacks , who bring

1100-467: The Vietnam War by operating freight trains carrying jet fuel for U.S. military use. On November 29, 1985, militants supporting a radical sect of JNR's labor union objecting to the privatization of JNR damaged signal cables at 33 points around Tokyo and Osaka to halt thousands of commuter trains and then set fire to Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo. As such, relationships with labor unions were always

1155-419: The Yasukuni Shrine . A conservative contemporary of U.S. president Ronald Reagan , Nakasone privatized Japan's railroad and telephone systems, and favored closer ties with the U.S., once calling Japan "America's unsinkable aircraft carrier". After leaving office in 1987, he was implicated in the Recruit scandal , causing the influence of his LDP faction to wane before he retired from the Diet in 2004. Nakasone

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1210-586: The Chinese government arranged tours of China for 3,000 Japanese youths. On the trip, Nakasone's son was privately accompanied by the daughter of Hu Yaobang , the-then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party . After the event, Hu was criticised by other members of the Chinese Communist Party for the extravagance and warmth of the event. Nakasone also visited President Corazon Aquino in

1265-487: The Constitution's separation of religion and state. Nakasone defended his actions by saying, "The true defence of Japan ... becomes possible only through the combination of liberty-loving peoples who are equal to each other ... The manner is desired to be based on self-determination of the race". He also said, "It is considered progressive to criticise pre-war Japan for its faults and defects, but I firmly oppose such

1320-507: The JNR Settlement Corporation, later stated that their help in finding work consisted of giving him photocopies of recruitment ads from newspapers. This period ended in April 1990, and 1,047 were dismissed. This included 64 Zendoro members and 966 Kokuro members. Twenty-three years after the original privatization, on June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court settled the dispute between the workers and

1375-516: The JR companies. There was substantial pressure on union members to leave their unions, and within a year, the membership of the National Railway Workers' Union (Kokuro) fell from 200,000 to 44,000. Workers who had supported the privatization, or those who left Kokuro, were hired at substantially higher rates than Kokuro members. There was a government pledge that no one would be "thrown out onto

1430-464: The United States, Nakasone said: "Problems like Okinawa [and the American military base there] can be solved by talking together." On 11 February 1945, Nakasone married Tsutako Nakasone (30 October 1921 – 7 November 2012). Nakasone's son, Hirofumi Nakasone , is also a member of the Diet; he has served as Minister of Education and as Minister of Foreign Affairs. His grandson, Yasutaka Nakasone ,

1485-472: The United States, and said: "President Reagan is the pitcher and I'm the catcher. When the pitcher gives the signs, I'll co-operate unsparingly, but if he doesn't sometimes follow the catcher's signs, the game can't be won". Nakasone said Japan would be "America's unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the Pacific and that Japan would "keep complete control of the four straits that go through to Japanese islands, to prevent

1540-480: The United States. 'Because of the prime minister’s imprudent remarks, the current situation calls for Japan to make efforts to improve things,' he said. The [Japanese] relationship with the United States is different from that with China, he said, because 'it is built on a security alliance, and not just on the alliance, but on the shared values of liberal democracy, and on its shared ideals.'" And relative to another high-profile current source of friction between Japan and

1595-451: The average level down" and also said that "in America today there are still many Blacks who can't even read." He then clarified his comments, stating that he meant to congratulate the U.S. on its economic success despite the presence of "problematic" minorities. Ainu people living in Japan criticized this comment as ignoring the reality of racial discrimination against them. In 1987, he was forced to resign after he attempted to introduce

1650-584: The belief that in its postwar remorse, Japan was in danger of discarding its traditional values. He campaigned on a nationalist platform, arguing for an enlarged Self-Defence Force , to amend Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution (which outlawed war as a means to settling international disputes), and to revive Japanese patriotism, especially in reverence for the Emperor. He entered the Japanese Diet as

1705-543: The debt has risen to ¥30 trillion ($ 491 billion in 2021 dollars). Many lawsuits and labor commission cases were filed over the decades from the privatization in 1987. Kokuro and the National Railway Locomotive Engineers' Union (Zendoro), both prominent Japanese railway unions, represented a number of the JNR workers. Lists of workers to be employed by the new organizations were drawn up by JNR and given to

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1760-469: The first reward of conquest. He later wrote of his return to Tokyo in August 1945 after Japan's surrender: "I stood vacantly amid the ruins of Tokyo, after discarding my officer's short sword and removing the epaulettes of my uniform. As I looked around me, I swore to resurrect my homeland from the ashes of defeat". In 1947, he gave up a promising career in an elite government ministry to run for Parliament with

1815-492: The head of the Self-Defence Force, Nakasone argued for an increase in defence spending from less than 1% GDP to 3% of GDP. He was also in favour of Japan having tactical nuclear weapons. He was labelled "the weathervane" in 1972 because he switched his support from Takeo Fukuda to Kakuei Tanaka in the leadership election, ensuring Tanaka's victory. In turn, Tanaka would give his powerful support to Nakasone against Fukuda

1870-698: The imperial navy during the Pacific War. After the war, he entered the National Diet in 1947 and rose through the ranks of the Liberal Democratic Party , serving as chief of the Defense Agency from 1970 to 1971 under Eisaku Satō , international trade and industry minister from 1972 to 1974 under Kakuei Tanaka , and administration minister from 1980 to 1982 under Zenkō Suzuki . As prime minister, he passed large defense budgets and controversially visited

1925-490: The inauguration of high-speed Shinkansen service along the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line on October 1, 1964. However, JNR was not a state-run corporation; its accounting was independent from the national budget. Rural sections without enough passengers began to press its management, pulling it further and further into debt. In 1983, JNR started to close its unprofitable 83 local lines (the closure continued three years after

1980-403: The last day of JNR. JNR operated both passenger and freight services. Shinkansen , the world's first high-speed railway was debuted by JNR in 1964. By the end of JNR in 1987, four lines had been constructed: JNR operated bus lines as feeders, supplements or substitutions of railways. Unlike railway operation, JNR Bus was not superior to other local bus operators. The JR Bus companies are

2035-499: The network. The ministries used the name Japanese Government Railways (JGR) to refer their network in English. During World War II , many JGR lines were dismantled to supply steel for the war effort. On June 1, 1949, by a directive of the U.S. General HQ in Tokyo , JGR was reorganized into Japanese National Railways, a state-owned public corporation . JNR enjoyed many successes, including

2090-454: The passage of Soviet submarines". He was attacked by political opponents as a reactionary and a "dangerous militarist". Nakasone responded by saying: "A nation must shed any sense of ignominy and move forward seeking glory". However his attempt to amend Article 9 failed. In 1984, Nakasone visited China on the twelfth anniversary of Japan's diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic, for which

2145-525: The privatization). By 1987, JNR's debt was over ¥27 trillion ($ 442 billion at 2021 exchange rates) and the company was spending ¥147 for every ¥100 earned. Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone , an avowed advocate of privatization , strongly supported breaking up JNR and in August 1982 launched the JNR Reform Commission to officially begin the process. By an act of the Diet of Japan , on April 1, 1987, JNR

2200-581: The right to strike", which resulted in a total defeat of the unions. Yasuhiro Nakasone Yasuhiro Nakasone ( 中曽根 康弘 , Nakasone Yasuhiro , 27 May 1918 – 29 November 2019) was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1982 to 1987. His political term was best known for pushing through the privatization of state-owned companies and pursuing a hawkish and pro-U.S. foreign policy. Born in Gunma Prefecture , Nakasone graduated from Tokyo Imperial University and served in

2255-609: The shrine in his official capacity, intending to reassert the Japanese government's respect for the spirits of the ancestors killed in battle, including those who died in World War II . This turned out however to be a controversial move which was heavily criticised by the Chinese Government (including in its newspaper, People's Daily ) and led to angry demonstrations in Beijing. It was also attacked by opponents at home for violating

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2310-539: The street", and so unhired workers were classified as "needing to be employed" and were transferred to the JNR Settlement Corporation , where they could be assigned for up to three years. Around 7,600 workers were transferred in this way, and around 2,000 of them were hired by JR firms, and 3,000 found work elsewhere. Mitomu Yamaguchi, a former JNR employee from Tosu in Saga prefecture who had been transferred to

2365-489: The successors of the bus operation of JNR. JNR operated ferries to connect railway networks separated by sea or to meet other local demands: Out of three routes assigned to JR companies in 1987, only the Miyajima Ferry remains active as of 2023. A number of unions represented workers at JNR, including the National Railway Workers' Union (Kokuro), the National Railway Locomotive Engineers' Union (Doro), and Doro-Chiba,

2420-495: The system. For the first time in Japan's post-war history, bureaucrats lost their leading role. In 1985, Nakasone appointed the former Governor of the Bank of Japan , Haruo Maekawa , to head a commission on Japan's economic future. In 1986, the Commission recommended that Japan should grow not through exports (which were angering Japan's trading partners) but from within. Nakasone advised the Japanese public to purchase foreign imports; in

2475-705: The three public corporations reduced the number of employees and significantly improved ordinary income per employee, productivity, and sales. According to a report by Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training , 20 years after the privatization of NTT and JT and 16 years after the privatization of JR, the number of employees was reduced to 35% for JT, 65% for NTT and 70% for JR. In addition, NTT, JT and JR increased their ordinary income by 8 times, 5.5 times and 3 times, respectively. The productivity of NTT, JT and JR increased 3 times, 2.5 times and 1.5 times, respectively. Sales at NTT and JR increased 2.2 times and 1.2 times, respectively. Nakasone wrote of his economic reforms: I

2530-456: The town of Satomimura  [ ja ] in Kōzuke Province . His descendants became silk merchants and pawnbrokers. Nakasone's father, originally born Nakasone Kanichi, settled in Takasaki in 1912 and established a timber business and lumberyard which had success as a result of the post- WWI building boom. Nakasone described his early childhood and youth as a happy one, and himself as

2585-661: The war. In 1955, at Nakasone's urging, the government granted the equivalent of $ 14,000,000 to the Agency for Industrial Science and Technology to begin nuclear power research. Nakasone rose through the LDP 's ranks, becoming Minister of Science in 1959 under the government of Nobusuke Kishi , then Minister of Transport in 1967, Director General of the Japan Defense Agency from 1970 to 1971, Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1972 and Minister of Administration in 1981. As

2640-572: Was privatized and divided into seven railway companies, six passenger and one freight, collectively called the Japan Railways Group or JR Group. Long-term liabilities of JNR were taken over by the Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation . That corporation was subsequently disbanded on October 22, 1998, and its remaining debts were transferred to the national budget's general accounting. By this time

2695-790: Was a symbol of JNR as it is the English equivalent of the Japanese Tsubame , the name of a deluxe train operated by JNR in the 1950s. JNR sold the team to the Sankei Shinbun in 1965, and called the Atoms from 1966 to 1973; the team is now the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and has been owned by the Yakult company since 1970. JNR as a public corporation (from 1949 to 1987) experienced five major accidents (including two shipwrecks of railway ferries) with casualties more than 100: In its very early days as

2750-520: Was born in Takasaki in Gunma , a prefecture northwest of Tokyo, on 27 May 1918. He was the second son of Nakasone Matsugoro II, a lumber dealer, and Nakamura Yuku. He had five siblings: an elder brother named Kichitaro, an elder sister named Shoko, a younger brother named Ryosuke and another younger brother and younger sister who both died in childhood. The Nakasone family had been of the samurai class during

2805-459: Was carrying out a kind of "improvement" of Japan's structure. For 110 years, ever since the Meiji restoration , Japan had been striving to catch up with America and Britain. In the 1970s we did catch up. Beyond that point the [state's] regulations only stand in the way of the growth of the economy. If government officials have too much power, the private sector of the economy will not grow. We had to change

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2860-541: Was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as a paymaster. As a lieutenant , he was stationed at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan , Indonesia , to build an airfield. There, he realized that the construction of the airfield had been stalled due to the prevalence of sexual crimes, gambling, and other problems among his men, so he gathered comfort women and organized a brothel called “comfort station” as

2915-429: Was not given a place on the LDP's electoral list as the party, by then led by Jun'ichirō Koizumi , introduced an age limit of 73 years for candidates in the proportional representation blocks, ending his career as a member of the Diet . In 2010, "aware of his status as one of the few leaders revered across Japan's suddenly fractured political landscape" and the country's "most revered elder statesman", Nakasone launched

2970-471: Was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated 19,756.8 km (12,276.3 mi) of narrow gauge ( 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in )) railways in all 46 prefectures of Japan. This figure expanded to 21,421.1 km (13,310.5 mi) in 1981 (excluding Shinkansen), but later reduced to 19,633.6 km (12,199.8 mi) as of March 31, 1987,

3025-539: Was thus created and inherited the former JNR line on April 1, 1986. Heavy rainfall damaged a bridge between Oitai and Matsuzaki in 2006 and buses provided the link between those two station for six months until the bridge was repaired. This article about a Japanese railway line–related topic is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Japanese National Railways The Japanese National Railways ( 日本国有鉄道 , Nihon Kokuyū Tetsudō or Nippon Kokuyū Tetsudō ) abbreviated JNR or Kokutetsu ( 国鉄 ) ,

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